Question: Factor the following expression: $18x^2 - 8$
Solution: We can start by factoring a ${2}$ out of each term: $ {2}({9x^2} - {4})$ The second term is of the form ${a^2} - {b^2}$ , which is a difference of two squares so we can factor it as ${2}({a} + {b}) ({a} - {b})$ What are the values of $a$ and $b$ $ a = \sqrt{9x^2} = 3x$ $ b = \sqrt{4} = 2$ Use the values we found for $a$ and $b$ to complete the factored expression, ${2}({a} + {b}) ({a} - {b})$ So we can factor the expression as: ${2}({3x} + {2}) ({3x} - {2})$